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Advanced Searching

The document provides guidelines for conducting advanced information searches using reputable academic databases like Scopus and Web of Science. It emphasizes the importance of formulating effective search strings with keywords, synonyms, and operators, and offers tips for optimizing search results. Additionally, it highlights the need for evaluating results and suggests practical tools and strategies for efficient searching.

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carmenlibrarian01
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21 views10 pages

Advanced Searching

The document provides guidelines for conducting advanced information searches using reputable academic databases like Scopus and Web of Science. It emphasizes the importance of formulating effective search strings with keywords, synonyms, and operators, and offers tips for optimizing search results. Additionally, it highlights the need for evaluating results and suggests practical tools and strategies for efficient searching.

Uploaded by

carmenlibrarian01
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

2025/02/19

Advanced information searching


Carmen Nel

Golden rule of doing an


advanced information search…

1
2025/02/19

So what should you use?


Reputable academic databases such as Scopus,
the Web of Science and others
- contain references to journal articles that are scholarly and
peer reviewed
- allow for more sophisticated and refined searching
- searches can be replicated and repeated – necessary for SRs

Formulating a search string

What intermediary services are available


for child witnesses in South African
courts?

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2025/02/19

Formulating a search string


• Keywords and synonyms
• Boolean and proximity operators, phrases,
truncation

• Limiters

• Output

Formulating a search string

What intermediary services are available


for child witnesses in South African
courts?

3
2025/02/19

Formulating a search string


• Consider synonyms for your keywords:
- (child OR children OR minor OR underage)

- (court OR judiciary)

- (intermediary service OR representative)

- Brackets

Formulating a search string

• Phrase:
– “intermediary services”

– “legal system”

– “judiciary”

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2025/02/19

Formulating a search string

• Truncation: chop off a word (“chopping star”)


– child*: child, children, childhood, etc

– intermed*: intermediary, intermediation, etc

– BUT: policy or policies, not poli*


legal or legitimate, not leg*

Formulating a search string


• Proximity operators: place keywords closer together
– usually n or W/ or NEAR/

– specify number of words allowed between keywords

– differs between databases

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2025/02/19

Formulating a search string


(child* or minor) W/2 “witness"
and
(intermed* or representative)
and
(South Africa)

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Formulating a search string


• Field searching, e.g. words only in the title of
articles, or subject headings

• Limiters, e.g. date

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2025/02/19

Search results
• Evaluate:
– change display options if needed
– select relevant records
• Output:
– method: save, email, print, download, etc.
– format: e.g. .doc, .pdf, .ris

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A few tips
• Know your databases
• Sign in to the database
• Use subject headings if relevant (e.g. MeSH:
accidents, traffic)
• Notepad is your friend

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2025/02/19

15

A few tips
• Know your databases
• Sign in to the database
• Use subject headings if relevant (e.g. MeSH:
accidents, traffic)
• Notepad is your friend

16

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2025/02/19

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A few tips
• Know your databases
• Sign in to the database
• Use subject headings if relevant (e.g. MeSH:
accidents, traffic)
• Notepad is your friend
• Be careful of NOT

18

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2025/02/19

Questions

[email protected]

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